SARA Returns to White Rock SD August 27

The Stillwater Amateur Radio Assn (SARA) will be returning for the seventh time to operate from the ghost town of White Rock, SD. We first ran this event 22 years ago in 1999 using a special WØA callsign. The town of White Rock was established in 1884 and was once a thriving farming community with a peak population of 600 people; with 7 grain elevators, 3 hotels, 4 saloons, 2 banks, a large department store, 2 drug stores, 2 churches, a 12 grade school, railroad depot, post office as well as other mercantile establishments. White Rock is the most northeastern community in SD and the tri-state point where SD, ND & MN meet is nearby. The current population is 2!

While our primary base station will be in the town of White Rock, we expect conditions will allow us to have a secondary station at times at the SD/ND/MN tri-state marker. SSB will be our primary mode, but digital modes may also be used. While we will have a few people camping in White Rock that may operate some during the evening, this is primarily going to be a daytime operation with intention to be up and running by 1400 UTC on Saturday 8/28 and Sunday 8/29. One of the stations in White Rock will likely become established on 20m and will likely be kept busy enough to stay there most of the day. We encourage anyone who works us, to spot us on the cluster, as we won’t be self spotting and the more folks we work, the happier we will be. We have about a 4hr drive to White Rock and need time to set up on Friday 8/27, but plan to be operational late in the day on Friday. Would appreciate being able to make a few contacts then to be sure we are ready to go for the weekend, so if you are available on Friday 8/27 mid to late afternoon, you may be able to work us for an early contact for the event.

Suggested Frequencies: 3.860, 7.260, 14.260, 21.360 MHz (Tune +/– 10 kHz if QRM)